Monday, January 4, 2016

Inuyasha Ichiban Kuji Raffle Plush Banpresto 2002

From my memory, there are 2 Inuyasha Ichiban Kuji raffle sets. The first set has the characters as small sit-down plushies with swinging legs (Inuyasha, Kagome, Sango, Miroku? and Shippo), and I think bags with the characters heads on them, and a Kagome DX plush. I scoured the internet and managed to find pictures of them at animemate.com, so I will post them at the end of this entry for posterity only, I have never owned them except for the Shippo and Kagome DX. Kagome DX is sold, I still have Shippo.

For the series 2 set, I am not sure 100% if it was only this set of 3, but it says very clearly on the tag in kanji as the first grand prize, it is a large Inuyasha, 2nd prize is Sesshoumaru, and 3rd prize is Naraku. These are those 3.

This Inuyasha plush is HUGE and very, very nice. As you can see, over time it seems to have started peeling, but as far and I can remember this only started happening recently. I was not able to keep him stored the same way I did my smaller plushies due to his size, so I think he deteriorated due to that. However, the rest of him is in perfect shape, and, I should just face it, over time most of these will peel after a few decades. I put a ruler on the side to see his size, and here you can see his size in the full Inuyasha plush series picture:

I apologize reposting this image again, but it is rather essential here to show just how huge he is! Also his sword wasn't peeling in this picture :-/ (also you can see that the USA version of Jaken fits in well with the raffle Sesshoumaru size-wise, and Naraku fits in very well with the Rivals set).

I am not sure which way he is supposed to be posed, sword across his front or over his shoulder. I greatly prefer over the shoulder!!

The face is very well done, with a mix of stitching and different colored fabrics. I enjoy that he's got his fang and sideways cocky sneer/smile, and that the yellow of his eyes were stitched so it gives them this shiny more alive appearance.

Also his bow is even stuffed!! The necklace beads are large and strung nicely, he's got his wide sleeves and slits in his shoulder, and the rope across the front has a good texture.

His hand is wrapped around his sword and the fur is swirly and fun!

Next is Sesshoumaru! Larger than a normal DX (by quite a few inches) and equal in quality to Inuyasha. Instead Sesshoumaru's face is fully stitched. His fluffy 'tail' is attached to his hand.

Some back shots and detail. He is set up very similarly to the Rival series plush, except all his details aren't squished together on a tiny frame.

Some details on his front, and his shoes. Part of me is a bit surprised that they made his shoes the same as the Rival series, instead of putting in more detail.

So, the differences between this and the Rival series are the proportions, the colors (and shape) of his facial details, his feet are a better shape, etc..

Lastly is Naraku. Slightly larger than plush of the normal series, but definitely not DX size. His hood is removable which is kinda fun! It's a shame he had to be a raffle prize and not in a normal set, but that's life!

Facial detail without the hood on.

Back without the hood, and an idea of his pony tail (not stuffed, but flat). The baboon hood is simple with iron on decals that seem plastic in base, not like the eyes on his face.

Underneath his cloak! Wearing pants and socks, sandals. Part of the fun of owning a plush that you only see a few pictures of is definitely discovering these small details! What's under the hood? What's under the cloak!?

His back with his cloak on and hood up.

Some tag shots... raffle tags are different than normal tags. The tush tag says 'Ichiban Kuji' on it, indicating that it's a raffle plush, and has the date it was made after 'BP' which stands for Banpresto. The paper tag on the outside indicates the series (Ichiban Kuji Inuyasha Part 2 <copyright Sunrise 2000, that is NOT the date the plush is made>). On the inside of the tag, on the right it indicates the prizes in the set, in this case a Grand Prize (Inuyasha), 1st (Sesshoumaru) and 2nd prize (Naraku). Then it lists the materials. My kanji is spotty so that's the best I can do!

For the Series 1 Raffle set, I found these pictures on Animate.com and am only using them for reference if someone needs information on what the raffle series consisted of ( I do not own and have never owned these except for Shippo and DX Kagome whom I sold):

The tags on these will be similar to the ones on the series 2 plush. If you find a seller that seems to have any of these plush, I would contact them and get images of the tush tags and paper tags to verify. There are a few plushies that are smaller than these so do not confuse them!